Travel is supposed to be fun, but travel on a holiday weekend can be anything but. With millions more people on the roads and in airports, plans can go awry…fast. Luckily, every year AAA crunches the numbers to determine which holidays are the most traveled.

The verdict: the year-end holidays, with over with over 99 million Americans traveling over the nine day period in 2014 and 2015. The runner-up was Thanksgiving, with over 44 million Americans traveling. Keep in mind that the year-end holidays account for nearly twice as many days as other holiday periods, so the comparison is not necessarily one-to-one.

Consider traveling international this Thanksgiving to avoid the crowds. Photo credit: Alexandra Talty.

Working with market researcher
IHS, AAA predicts the busiest holiday periods in advance using economic forecasting. They then follow up with a poll, conducted with D. K. Shifflet & Associates, a tourism and travel research consulting company, to confirm their results.

As for holiday weekends like Memorial Day, Independence Day or Labor Day, AAA found Independence Day weekend to be the busiest, with over 41 million Americans in the air or on the road. Independence Day weekend also boasted the highest percentage of air travel versus other holiday periods.

“Because Christmas is a longer holiday travel period, people do take more time off,” says Julie Hall, AAA spokesperson. "They are more willing to drive.”

She continues that, “For the summer holidays, people are interested in shorter trips.”

“When it comes to international travel I find that Thanksgiving is a great time to travel,” says Steven Paletz, Real Estate Attorney from Houston, Texas. The avid international traveler spent last Thanksgiving in Thailand with his wife on a babymoon. He and his wife like to spend the holiday “somewhere exotic” as they already have two days off.

“Our return flight was on the night of Thanksgiving,” explains Paletz. “It was just a regular travel day in Bangkok and when we arrived home, the airport was a ghost town as everyone was already where they needed to be for Thanksgiving.”

“We find the day of the holiday itself tends to be less busy on the roads or at airports,” agrees Hall.

To avoid being bumped during the hectic holiday season, frequent business traveler Will Keys recommends booking morning flights, preferably on the actual holiday.

“Universally it is better to fly earlier,” says Keys. The oil industry worker clocks 12 – 15 trips a year, both domestically and internationally. “Avoid evenings. As the day goes on, there is a chain reaction. You could wind up somewhere like Houston or Dallas and not get out.”